The White House acknowledged Friday that President Trump pushed for a gag order on an informant to be lifted in a federal investigation into Russia’s attempts to gain a foothold in the United States’ uranium industry during the Obama administration.
The admission raised questions about whether Mr. Trump, eager to turn the tables on multiple investigations into whether his campaign colluded with Russia to sway the 2016 presidential election, violated an unwritten Justice Department rule against White House involvement in criminal investigations. It came three days after House Republicans said they were opening an inquiry into the Obama administration’s approval of a 2010 agreement that allowed Rosatom, the Russian nuclear energy agency, to acquire Uranium One, which owned access to much of the uranium in the United States.
The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it would allow the informant to speak to Congress, responding to a request from Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said Mr. Trump’s position had merely been an effort to ensure that Congress had access to the information it needed.
“In terms of the president being involved, I’m not aware of any specific involvement,” Ms. Sanders said. “The president has pushed for transparency — if that’s what you’re referring to — when dealing with Congress.”
